From local to global analytic conjugacies

By Xavier Buff and Adam L. Epstein

Abstract

Let $f_1$ and $f_2$ be rational maps with Julia sets $J_1$ and $J_2$, and let $\Psi:J_1\to \mathbb{P}^1$ be any continuous map such that $\Psi\circ f_1=f_2\circ \Psi$ on $J_1$. We show that if $\Psi$ is $\mathbb{C}$-differentiable, with non-vanishing derivative, at some repelling periodic point $z_1\in J_1$, then $\Psi$ admits an analytic extension to $\mathbb{P}^1\setminus {\mathcal E}_1$, where ${\mathcal E}_1$ is the exceptional set of $f_1$. Moreover, this extension is a semiconjugacy. This generalizes a result of Julia (Ann. Sci. École Norm. Sup. (3) 40 (1923), 97–150). Furthermore, if ${\mathcal E}_1=\emptyset$ then the extended map $\Psi$ is rational, and in this situation $\Psi(J_1)=J_2$ and $\Psi^{-1}(J_2)=J_1$, provided that $\Psi$ is not constant. On the other hand, if ${\mathcal E}_1\neq \emptyset$ then the extended map may be transcendental: for example, when $f_1$ is a power map (conjugate to $z\mapsto z^{\pm d}$) or a Chebyshev map (conjugate to $\pm \text{&KHcy;}_d$ with $\text{&KHcy;}_d(z+z^{-1}) = z^d+z^{-d}$), and when $f_2$ is an integral Lattès example (a quotient of the multiplication by an integer on a torus). Eremenko (Algebra i Analiz 1(4) (1989), 102–116) proved that these are the only such examples. We present a new proof